"The Linux operating system for the Raspberry Pi bare-bones computer is ready to download. The Arch Linux ARM download is based on Arch Linux, which the Raspberry Pi Foundation says 'provides a lightweight base structure that allows you to shape the system to your needs'."

The Debian build was available before the Arch build; the latter had some fine-tuning to be completed from what I understand.

Also, how is the Debian build more "complete"? Is the Arch build missing boot code or something? If you are referring to the fact that the Debian build is GUI-centric, that's hardly a qualifier for "complete". With both systems you can use the package manager to install whatever interface you wish. The Arch build is command line by default because it allows you to start with a fast, slim base and mold the system into whatever you wish. That doesn't make it less complete, it makes it smaller and more modular. Besides, two lines of commands will give it a full GUI:

pacman -Syu

pacman -S lxde xorg-xinit xf86-video-fbdev

There's nothing wrong with using either distro, or Fedora when it becomes available. It's all down to what you're going to use the system for.

As for the article's title, it would have been better to say "Arch Linux Distribution for Raspberry Pi Ready" or something to that effect. Fedora is the reference platform, and as I said earlier Debian was available before Arch.

I guess it's a difference of opinion on the meaning of "complete". What you just said is exactly true: Debian is the "slap it on the card and go" distro for sure. Once again though, I would say that makes it user friendly compared to Arch, not any more complete.

Arch as released for the Pi (or for x86 for that matter) is a complete operating system in every sense of the word: It boots the computer from disk, it supplies drivers and configuration for all hardware, it gives you a fully working userland environment, the ability to connect to networks, the ability to build software from source, and the ability to install software via the package manager. Not having a mouse-driven GUI interface right away simply means it's not for beginners.

Now, if someone attempts to put Linux From Scratch on it, I'd say they are starting with an incomplete OS, as it has to be bootstrapped from a chrooted instance until you've built enough of it to self-boot and continue the build process natively. Come to think of it, that sounds like a fun project!